Search Engine Optimization for Jobs

By Gautam Godhwani 

Gautam Godhwani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Co-founder, Simply Hired

Every day we use search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and vertical sites such as Kayak to help find specific information online. We trust these engines to help us navigate through the Internet’s vast number of growing sites and getting us the answers we seek. Using search engines for job search is no different. 

Every month, there are over 226,000,000 job related searches on Google. Vertical search engines are also gaining momentum with over 20 million monthly unique visitors. The fact is that job seekers are now using search engines to locate opportunities that they would not otherwise find through more traditional job search channels. This means that in order for candidates to find your jobs, they need to be optimized for search engines. 

Below are some of the key questions employers are asking. 

What is search engine optimization?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of developing and structuring Web content to be easily discovered by search engines and therefore by people. This process is necessary because search engines store a large amount of information (typically called a “search index”) and then need to recall relevant information based on a person’s search query (through a “search algorithm”). When content is not produced with this process in mind, it may not surface for relevant searches. 

Why should I care about making my jobs search engine friendly?

Every day, your jobs and employer brand are being picked up by search engines and pushed out to users. If you do not optimize your job content and employer brand for search engines, you lose control over the content that is delivered to users or worse, risk your jobs not being found by your target audience at all. So, in order to ensure you are reaching your desired target market while putting your best foot forward, your content needs to be search engine friendly.

Taking into account the SEO value of your job listings also ensures your jobs get more visibility by showing up in more relevant searches. Quality content that is search engine optimized will get picked up for a wide range of relevant searches, resulting in a higher number of quality candidates and a more effective recruiting campaign.

Additionally, search engines add another value – they drive job seeker visitors directly to your career site and job listing pages. This is great news because this allows for great conversion rates in the form of more applies. You also get higher quality candidates since job seekers landing on your site are based on targeted searches they specify. This means you get a self-selected candidate.

How do I get started?

Well, you don’t have to be a Marketing expert to apply standard SEO principles to your job listings. While there are many approaches to optimizing content for search engines, the underlying principles are the same:

- create unique and useful content

- structure it logically in a way that can easily be found online

- deliver content on your Website in the most user-friendly way possible.

A solid first step is to imagine yourself as the job seeker. What skills, job titles, locations, or other keywords would they enter into a search engine to find your job content? Make sure those terms are included on the job description page of your job listings.

Here are a few examples of ways to boost the SEO value of your job content:

• Create a branded experience with your company name
• Include information about your company in addition to the job description
• Expand job titles (Manager vs. Mgr)
• Provide links to related jobs
• Create a path back to the home page of the career site
• Provide a permanent link to each job detail page

Also remember that search engines will often send job seekers directly to your job detail pages, instead of sending them to the home page of your career site. As a result, it is especially important to create great job detail pages.

And while building your career site and job listings, keep one simple rule of thumb in mind: what is good for the job seeker experience is good for SEO.

For more detailed information, visit the SEO and Social Media Guide.

SEO and Social Media Guide Web site: http://resources.simplyhired.com/seo-and-social-media-guide.html

Posted by Gautam Godhwani on February 15, 2010. Filed under Thought Leadership, Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry